Onward to the Michigan odyssey
By Nancy Kriz
CENTRAL VALLEY — The quest to be the world's best will continue for two Monroe-Woodbury Odyssey of the Mind teams now that they placed first in their respective divisions and for their particular problem-solving abilities at the New York State Odyssey of the Mind championships, held April 11 at SUNY Binghamton.
The trip to Michigan State University in late May for the 36th annual Odyssey of the Mind World Finals will be the fourteenth year Monroe-Woodbury has sent teams to world competition. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems ranging from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and world level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program, and 800 of those teams have since earned a spot to compete on the Michigan campus.
Odyssey of the Mind is the only world competition that the Monroe-Woodbury School District participates in, and the teams will spend the next weeks seeing how they can further refine their performances.
District's 'three-peat'The high school team had a near perfect combined score of 349.44 points out of 350 for its response to the problem "Runaway Train." Team members are Nancy Rutishauer, Ishita Krishan, Nicholas Sullivan, Natalie Davidson, Jordan Glass, Heather Rutishauser and Katrina Paredes.
For the last consecutive two years, a high school team has placed first in worlds, and its participation this year gives the district an opportunity to earn first-ever "three-peat" honors.
The middle school team earned a total of 347.63 points out of 350 for its response to "Experiencing Technical Difficulties." Its members are Emma Dawson, Jake McGee, Colin McHugh, Brian Whitfield, Elena Kelbley, Meghan Buckley and Fiona Leitner.
These teams were part of a four Monroe-Woodbury team contingent vying for wins to advance them to worlds. The second high school team earned third place in its division with a total of 279.96 points for its response to "Experiencing Technical Difficulties." The Central Valley Elementary team earned 13th place in its division with 271.87 points for its response for "Pandora's Box."
Preparation for the professional world
Debra Garling, the district's gifted/talented program and OM coordinator, praised the efforts of all the teams participating in the statewide competition. She felt the teams' accomplishments serve as a reminder to others about the importance of creative, "out of the box" thinking.
"In this way, Odyssey prepares these students for a professional world that is becoming increasingly more research and development oriented," said Garling, who has overseen eight consecutive world competition trips for the district since she became OM coordinator in 2008.
Calling OM world finals participation the "ultimate in critical and creative thinking" experiences, Garling added being at worlds allows Monroe-Woodbury to showcase "the very best that our school district has to offer" with other students and administrators worldwide.
"These students are master collaborators who have used all their advanced knowledge, problem solving strategies, divergent thinking skills, dynamic performances abilities and cooperative personalities to create impressive solutions to their chosen problem," she added. "It's a thrill and an honor for them."
The two advancing OM teams were part of an original nine team contingent of 63 students representing the high school, middle school and Central Valley, North Main and Pine Tree elementary schools.
Editor's Note: Watch for forthcoming stories on each team in a future edition of The Photo News.